The List: 30 Jul 1993 (Issue 206)

When notorious Edinburgh metal four- piece Dunderfunk split in half. one pair wanted to be local heroes. The other two wanted to be famous. An educated guess says Die Happy contain the ‘local hero' couple. It might be the high proportion of. . . young men and women in the audience. It might be the

themselves from those

be the free three-track promo tape they give out (thanks!)

solid. like those intros of old; Herrmann‘s driving strings in the theme from Psycho. silhouetting backlight. and smoke pouring from the stage in incapacitating quantities. First. we see their

full. better than many major bands draw. Then we hear them. through the fog. Not the tnetalfunk we might have expected. but a heavier. choppy rock noise. supporting tuneful vocals with a rap bent.

all wear shorts. and the guitarist sports a silly woolly hat. Yoofculture. yo.

Throughout their 50- minute set. they sound crisp and sharp. the vocals clearer than many heard here. Initially. they seem uncomfortable. Not surprising. perhaps. for this is only Die Happy‘s second gig. a previous support slot for The Beyond being their debut. After three or four tracks. they relax into it. but perhaps lose the edge on their playing a little. and some of the audience's excitement with it. If anything. they need more colour to sustain their act.

The question is: have Die Happy jumped the gun? While the other half of Dunderfunk labour in darkness. building their doomsday band. this group are in the spotlight. Too soon? It depends on whether you believe in ' growing up in public.

" (Gavin Inglis)

3D The List 30 July—l2 August 1993

TAKE THAT

SECC, Glasgow, 21 July.

way they avoid distancing j

watching. Or it mightjust

Whichever. their intro is -

crowd; a Venue two-thirds ':

This is one helluva way to pass an evening. Sardine sandwiched in the heart of a marauding stampede of nubile harpies unified in their quest for the multiple orgasm, haying lustily for a bite-sized chunk of Mark The Gute One! Robbie The Joker In The Pack! Howie and Jase The Funky Torsos! Gary The lleg Songwriter One Who Can’t Dance! and brandishing homespun banners ranging from the basic ‘Bobbie We Luv You’ to the somewhat more forthright ‘00 What You like To Me Mark And I’ll Be Satisfied’. And does this mayhaps include a skinny dip in a vat of acid followed by a brisk rubdown with sandpaper? Pheeeyyoo! Let’s recline and take stock among the material, emotional and hormonal debris.

Take That are the best teenybop travesty to surface in the past decade. They galvanise pre-pubescent pap with hi-NRG homoerotica and with that one stroke piss all over the likes of Bros, New Kids and the risible East 17, who continually make the cardinal

mistake of striving for credibility in a cred-free zone. Take That know their lifespan is stunted and play to this with the urgency of ‘West Side Story’ extras maximising their dribble of the limelight.

Yet for such a lucrative band, the stagecraft is surprisingly cheapo: the standard video screens, a few swishy curtains, frankly naff ‘intimate lighting’ and, of course, The Staircase, a device intrinsic to the cabaret ethic Take That work to - tightly

‘ orchestrated routines degenerating

into ‘spontaneous’, ‘improvised’ audience baiting. Which is what we’re here for anyway, so sod ancillary trivialities like the competence of their backing band, the power of their lighting rig and their music, let’s Iionise the essentials - the costumes (from virginal white to bad boy black, and a special mention for Howard’s denim skirt and Persil white briefs) and the services to overactivity in the pelvic region. And the fact that Mark looked at me. Really. llot anyone else, JUST ME. OK? (Fiona Shepherd)

‘ THE PASTELS/

Finally. we see them; they

AC ACOUSTICS/ SAIDFLORENCE

13th llote, Glasgow, 26 July.

Lest we forget, Radio Scotland and apologists for new Scottish music are

still locking horns over the issue of airtime for local bands. Radio Scotland maintains that chart-based pop music is no longer a priority

. (being catered for adequately j elsewhere, which it certainly is), but of the three bands tonight agitating

for the return of new music to night-

1 time Radio Scotland, only one ‘ (saidflorence) could be described as

‘chart-based pop’, yet all three have been disenfranchised by the station’s

new bogus policy of ‘extending

choice’. All three owe a great deal of

: their past and present (and future?) to night-time Radio Scotland. The new

evening schedules will be announced in just over a month: time to Rock On

A Radio Scotland.

Such is the groundswell of support for the event and the shoebox aspect of The 13th Note that I witness saidflorence’s set from the vantage point of the pavement outside. The

1 recent single, ‘Oefinitely Maybe’ loves

itself to death, and in the grand tradition of goofy cover versions they end up with the ‘Scoobv Ooo’ signature tune. (A couple of months ago, The Bachelor Pad actually bothered to work out the chords for the Flake advert.)

Once indoors, it’s apparent that AC Acoustics have opted for the sleazy noisecore set, as opposed to the Spiritualized bias of their new demo, raining molten riffola on the perspirlng assembly. Most of the set rocks with a pleasing lurching lethargy until final earthquaker ‘Jam 0’ Rock - Why?’ (try saying it aloud), which is taut and brutal and leaves The Pastels trying to shift the goalposts yet again.

Probably more than any other band, The Pastels exemplify Radio Scotland’s old musical policy - a group at odds with the times and creatively empowering for it. It seems like most of their musical descendants are in the audience tonight - the line of tradition established by programmes like ‘Beat Patrol’ made flesh. It’s hardly a vintage set, more of a comfort blanket for those who hope for ‘Beat Patrol’s’ reprieve come September. (Fiona

1 Shepherd)

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Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.